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Schumi: No new bike career
30/03/2008 14:33 - (SA)
Berlin - Formula One legend Michael Schumacher insisted on Sunday he has no plans to launch a new career in motorbike racing despite his recent success on two wheels.
The seven-times world champion retired from Formula One in 2006, but has had a couple of amateur motorbike races recently where he finished third in Hungary and won in Barcelona over the recent Easter holiday.
On Saturday, Schumi took part in qualifying for a small series KTM Trophy race in Misano in Italy's Rimini province and finished third in qualifying.
"I simply get great pleasure from riding motorbikes," the 39-year-old told Sunday's edition of German tabloid Bild.
"I do not have any particular ambition to make it a career.
"If I take part in races from time to time, it is simply because of the love for the competition."
Rumours have been fuelled by Schumacher's test ride for the Ducati MotoGP team at the end of last year.
On Saturday, he finished third in qualifying for the KTM Trophy and races on Sunday ahead of 2007 winner Italian Danilo Tomassoni.
"What I like most on the motor bike, it is that you are closer to the action," said the German.
"You can feel the strength of the bike through the handle bars, your knees touch the ground in the curves, you do not have the cockpit around you.
"And I can deal with the bike's mechanics myself."
But just as during his Formula One career, Schumacher does not leave anything to chance: Bild reports he is accompanied by a physiotherapist and has asked the company which makes his helmet to make an extra-light model in his black and orange colours.
- SAPA
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